1. We Can Focus on Ourselves and Experience Sin’s Painfulness (vv. 1-8). Pain hurts, and David wasn’t ashamed to write about it, using a number of vivid images to convey to the Lord and to us the severity of his suffering. Like a loving Father, the Lord first rebuked David and then chastened him, both of which are evidences of His love (Prov. 3:11-12; Heb. 12:1-11). If we don’t listen to the words of His heart, we will have to feel the weight of His hand (32:4; 39:10-11). Alexander Maclaren compared “hot displeasure” to “hot bubbling lava” about to erupt. God was also shooting “arrows” at David, hurling down one affliction after another with great force (see Job 6:4; 7:20; 16:12; “mark” means “target”). He was drowning in a sea of suffering (v. 4; see 42:7; 69:2, 14; 88:16; 124:4; 130:1-2), and the whole experience became a burden too heavy for him to carry.

In great detail, David described his “loathsome disease” (v. 7). This was not one isolated sickness but a collection of physical disorders that produced “searing pain” (niv), fever, and inflammation. He had festering wounds (v. 5) that smelled foul and looked ugly, his heart wasn’t functioning properly, and his eyes were getting dim (v. 10). There was no health in his body (vv. 3, 7); one minute he was burning with fever; the next minute he was numb with cold (vv. 7-8). His body was feeble and twisted with pain, and he walked about all day like a man at a funeral (vv. 6, 8). At times, his pain was so severe, he cried out like a wild beast (v. 8). All this happened because he had been foolish and had sinned against the Lord (v. 5; 107:17). We are free to disobey the Lord, but we are not free to change the consequences.